People

Denis joined the lab in February 2014 and started work building up our nanowire sensing project. Later he took the lead on our scanning nano-SQUID efforts, establishing the fabrication and use of SQUID-on-tip sensors in our group. After 4 years in the group, he took a position at the Federal Institute of Metrology (METAS) in Bern, Switzerland. In early 2020, Denis moved to Nanosurf in Liestal, Switzerland.

Paolo worked as a joint member of our group and the group of Prof. Christian Degen at the ETH starting in 2012. After just over 2 years, he took a position at Zurich Instruments. Paolo was based at ETH and worked on ultrasensitive nanomechanical sensing and dissipation.

Hari started work in our lab in August 2011. After more than 2 years in our group, working on transport and nanomechanics experiments on nanowires, Hari took a post doctoral position at the London Centre for Nanotechnology in mid-2014. Since late 2015, Hari is a Senior R&D Engineer at Seagate Technology in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

Fei started in the lab as our first post-doc in December 2009. After crucial work helping to build our group and 3 years of research, in late 2013 Fei took a position as Principal Investigator at the High Magnetic Field Laboratory (HMFL) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Hefei, China. During his time in the Poggio Lab, he worked mostly on magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM) and cantilever magnetometry.

Lorenzo joined the lab as a Ph.D. student in January 2016 to work on the development and application of scanning SQUID-on-tip sensors. He was the first student to work on this project full time and carried out our first two experiments using this technique. The first was show the presence of flux-closure configurations in individual ferromagnetic nanotubes. The second investigated superconducting vortex dynamics and pinning in an amorphous superconducting film of MoSi. He graduated in May 2020. Immediately following his Ph.D., Lorenzo continued in the group as a post-doctoral researcher.

David Bracher joined the group in January 2016 as an external member working under the supervision of Dr. Armin Kleibert at the Surface/Interface Microscopy (SIM) beamline at the Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) in Villingen, Switzerland. There he explored the magnetism of two types of antiferromagnetic nanoparticles by x-ray photoemission electron microscopy (XPEEM) using the x-ray magnetic linear dichroism effect. This technique allows for the investigation of individual magnetic nanoparticles and therefore overcomes the difficulties involved in interpreting conventional measurements of particle ensembles or the absence of measurable stray fields in nanometer-scale antiferromagnets. He graduated in January 2020. Immediately following his Ph.D., David continued at the PSI as a post-doctoral researcher.

Nicola Rossi started as a Ph.D. student in June 2014 with the support of our ERC Starting Grant on using nanowires (NWs) as sensitive scanning probes. Nicola was the first to demonstrate a new type of atomic force microscope (AFM) using NWs as tiny sensors. Unlike standard AFM, the NW-based technique enables measurements of both the size and direction of forces. He later showed that magnet-tipped NWs can be used for imaging extremely weak magnetic field patterns on the nanometer-scale, as required for mapping mesoscopic transport and spin textures or in nanometer-scale magnetic resonance. He graduated in July 2019. Immediately following his Ph.D., Nicola continued in the group as a post-doctoral researcher.

Marcus started as a Ph.D. student in April of 2014 after completing a Masters degree under Prof. Laura Heyderman at the Paul Scherrer Institute. He pursued a number of nano-magnetic imaging projects including x-ray magnetic circular dichroism photoemission electron microscopy (XMCD-PEEM) experiments at PSI and scanning SQUID microscopy (SSM) experiments in our own lab. He was the first Ph.D. student to work on fabricating up and using SQUID-on-tip sensors in our lab. He later used both XMCD-PEEM and SSM to study ferromagnetic nanotubes, SSM to study artificial spin ice, and finally worked on a new design for SQUID-on-tip sensors for the next generation of SSM. He graduated in November 2018 and started working as a post-doc in our group.

Davide started as a Ph.D. student in May of 2013 with the support of the SNI Ph.D. Program. He was the first Ph.D. student in our lab to start working on nanowires (NWs) as scanning probe sensors. After building up a new microscope, Davide started studying nonlinear mechanical effects in NWs. He later collaborated with the Warburton Group on several projects involving quantum dots embedded in photonic NWs. This work ultimately led to the realization of a fiber-coupled QD and the proof-of-principle demonstration of scanning electric field microscope based on an optically-addressable QD. He graduated in March 2018. After graduation, Davide stayed on as a post-doc until the end of 2018. He then started work at Rolic Technologies Ltd. in Allschwil, Switzerland in January 2019.

Ben started as a Ph.D. student in early of 2012, after completing his Masters degree with us. From the beginning, he worked on magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM), becoming an expert in all of its aspects, including preparing samples, producing ‘microwires’, aligning the microscope, programming complex pulse sequences, and designing measurement protocols. Ben was particularly successful investigating the transition between regimes dominated by thermal and statistical polarization in nanometer-scale ensembles of nuclear spins. He graduated in June 2017. After graduation, Ben started work teaching science and mathematics in the Basel school system. In early 2020, Ben moved to the Federal Institute of Metrology (METAS) in Bern, Switzerland.

Having completed her Masters project in our group, Andrea joined the lab as a Ph.D. student in September 2012. After working on experiments investigating the coupling of mesoscopic transport to mechanical motion, Andrea took over measurements of nanometer-scale magnets using dynamic cantilever magnetometry (DCM). After successful work investigating the skyrmion phase in MnSi nanowires with Dr. Fei Xue, she went on to collaborate with Dr. Boris Groß on building a new measurement system and investigating further magnetic nanostructures, including ferromagnetic nanotubes and lacunar spinel materials. Having graduated in June 2017, Andrea stayed on as a post-doc in the group until February 2018. She then started work at Innovative Sensor Technology (IST) AG in Ebnat-Kappel, Switzerland in March 2018.

Arne started as a Ph.D. student in our group in July of 2011. He went on to start a his own research project combining cantilever magnetometry with nanometer-scale SQUID sensors. He carried the project through, successfully managing a large collaboration and applying the technique to study magnetization reversal in ferromagnetic nanotubes. After graduation in October 2015, Arne started work as a researcher at the Federal Institute of Metrology (METAS) in Bern, Switzerland.

Dennis started as our third Ph.D. student in September of 2009. During his doctoral work, he focused on the application of dynamic cantilever magnetometry to the study of nanometer-scale magnetic structures. He pioneered this technique in our lab and measured a class of interesting nanomagnets, known as ferromagnetic nanotubes. After graduation in September 2014, Dennis stayed on in the group for a short time before starting work teaching science and mathematics in the Basel school system in early 2015.

Michele first arrived in the lab in May 2009 as our second Ph.D. student. He studied the coupling of nanomechanical resonators to controllable quantum systems. First, he made experiments involving the coupling of mesoscopic transport devices to nanomechanical cantilevers. Later he measured the hybrid coupling between the mechanical motion of a bottom-up grown nanowire and the intrinsic quantum dots occuring within the nanowire. After graduation in September 2014, Michele stayed on in the group for a short time before starting work at Sensirion AG in Stäfa, Switzerland in February 2015.

Phani was the lab’s first Ph.D. student starting work in April 2009. During his studies, he applied low-temperature magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM) for the study of nuclear spin fluctuations. After graduation in June 2013, he joined the Jelezko Group at Ulm University as a post doctoral researcher. In late 2017, Phani started his own research group as Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Bhopal, India.

Lukas joined the group in May 2019 working on a short Masters project. He later continued work in the lab for his Masters thesis doing proof-of-principle experiments on using nanowire lasers as sensitive scanning probes. After graduation in May 2020, Lukas joined the group as a Ph.D. student.

Alexander joined the lab as a Master’s student in January 2016. He helped developed the process for producing superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) on sharp tips for scanning probe experiments. He also played an important role in characterizing, testing, and running these ultrasensitive devices.

Kavian joined the lab as a Master’s student in June 2014. For his thesis he developed a process for making top-down Si nanowires and measured the mechanical properties of this promising type of transducer.

Andrea joined the group in September 2011. She worked on experiments studying the coupling of a quantum point contact (QPC) to and off-board cantilever oscillator. After graduation in mid-2012, she joined the Poggio Lab as a Ph.D. student

Benedikt joined the lab as its first Master’s student in April 2011. For his thesis he built a room-temperature magnetic resonance force microscope (MRFM). After graduation in early 2012, he joined the Poggio Lab as a Ph.D. student.